Outstanding Alumni Award 2018

Mays Business School honors graduates who have led lives of distinction and who embody the Aggie core values – loyalty, integrity, excellence, leadership, selfless service and respect – with the Mays Outstanding Alumni Award. Recipients come from all industries, have been active in their communities and continue to serve their alma mater. The alumni chosen for the award represent the best of the best at Mays.

2018 Honorees

Mike Shaw ’68

Mike Shaw is chairman and CEO of Mike Shaw Automotive, a family owned and operated company with two generations working side by side. Shaw was named Time Magazine’s Dealer of the Year in 2012.

He received a bachelor’s degree in management in 1968.

Shaw was raised in South Texas and is a 1964 graduate of Weslaco High School. He earned a degree in business management at Texas A&M, where he was a distinguished military student and graduate. In 1968, while attending graduate school, he began working in the auto industry with his extended family in Beaumont.

After graduation, Shaw became an officer in the United States Army and spent one year in Vietnam. After serving his country, he returned home to refocus his career in the automotive industry. In the mid-1990’s, he purchased a Chevrolet-Buick-Saab dealership. In 2000, he purchased a Buick-GMC dealership in Colorado Springs. In 2001, he opened Mike Shaw Subaru. By 2010, he owned seven dealerships, including a Toyota, Kia, and two Honda dealerships.

Shaw and his wife Nancy have been married for 46 years, have three children, and three grandchildren.

Fred Heldenfels ’79

Fred Heldenfels IV is president and CEO of Heldenfels Enterprises, which specializes in the manufacture and installation of precast/prestressed concrete structures.

Heldenfels received a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1979.

The company continues the tradition of Heldenfels Brothers, one of Texas’ leading highway and bridge contractors, originally founded in 1909 by his great-grandfather and his brother as Heldenfels Brothers. In 1995, he formed Heldenfels Enterprises and bought the assets of the company’s precast/prestressed concrete division.

He received the Aggie 100 Award in 2005, 2006, and 2008, and the Association of Former Students Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2015.

Fred Caldwell ’82

Fred Caldwellis president and CEO of Caldwell Companies in Houston. He received a bachelor’s degree in accounting in 1982 and a master’s in finance in 1983. He was a three-year letterman on the football team at Texas A&M University.

Caldwell began his career with The Originals Group in 1983 and joined Southern Realty Corporation in 1985, becoming president in 1988. He was the founding partner of Caldwell Nyberg Interests in 1990, later renamed Caldwell Companies. It serves as a holding company for a family of related companies that invest in, develop, broker, and manage residential and commercial real estate interests and participates in private-equity investments.

On the Texas A&M campus, Caldwell developed buildings in Research Park. He was a 2005 Aggie 100 Award recipient.

Caldwell serves on the board of directors and was past chairman of the Cy-Fair Educational Foundation; is a former member of the 12th Man Foundation Executive Board; is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at Mays; is a member of the Aggie Real Estate Network; is on the board of directors and was past chairman for the Lone Star College System District Foundation; and is an elder with Terra Verde Community Church.

He lives in Cypress with his wife of 30 years, Susan. Their children are Amanda and Lindsey.

Jerry ’72 and Kay Cox ’02

Jerry and Kay Coxhave long supported Mays Business School with their resources and their time. One of the buildings that houses Mays Business School bears their name, in recognition of donations totaling more than $2 million. The pair also created the Jerry and Kay Cox Endowed Chair at Mays and a scholarship fund for the Business Honors Program.

Jerry Cox received a bachelor’s degree in finance in 1971, a master’s degree in theological studies from Houston Baptist University and an honorary doctorate of laws from Pepperdine University. Kay Cox received a master’s in educational psychology from Texas A&M in 2002.

In 1977, Cox founded Cox & Perkins Exploration, Inc., an independent oil and gas exploration and production company, where he serves as president and chairman. His peers in the oil and gas industry praise Cox as an adroit investor and businessman who operates with high integrity and honesty. Cox is a member of Hydril Company Board of Directors and the Pepperdine University Board of Regents.

He was inducted into the Corps Hall of Honor in 2009 and has been honored as a Distinguished Alumnus by both Mays Business School and The Association of Former Students.

The Cox’s have been major donors behind several enhancements of Texas A&M, including the Cox-McFerrin Center for Aggie Basketball. Jerry Cox has served on many boards and committees at Texas A&M, including the Texas A&M Foundation, the Dean’s Advisory Board at Mays Business School where he serves as chair, and the Corps Development Council. He is a former director and president of the 12th Man Foundation and was the presiding chairman of the One Spirit One Vision campaign.